Here are 12 things that you might not know about me:

1) Once while traveling in Laos, our vehicle was pulled out of a mud pit by a truckload of elephants.

2) When I  went to Antigua for carnival, I only saw the island by daylight on the last day.

3) I was nearly swept out to sea on a solo hiking trip along the Lost Coast and saved myself by bushwhacking through a hillside of unforgiving poison oak.

4) My daughter and I started memorizing Beowulf, the Seamus Heaney translation. We are still working on this.

5) I won a world championship in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (old man division).

6) In high schoool, I spent a summer in the Amazon rainforest vaccinating villagers against yellow fever.

7) I was once accused by the Washington Post of interrupting then-Vice President Al Gore’s press conference. It was really just an innocent question and he did call on me.

8) Our honeymoon included spotting orangutans in Sumatra, snorkeling in the Togian Sea and traveling the Mekong by speedboat.

9) I avoided both tear gas and anarchists during the Battle of Seattle.

10) I talked story and sea turtles with village elders in Papua New Guinea.

11) I learned how to drive a VW bus with a broken clutch cable on a cross country journey complete with Grateful Dead stickers.

12) I shared wine with my great-grand uncle in Sicily.